The Serpent
by At A Venture
Summary: When a snake bites Sookie, her friends rush her to the hospital. But this is no ordinary snake bite. In fact, this is no ordinary snake... E/S.
1. Liar Liar

**The Serpent**

_ Liar Liar_

_

* * *

  
_

"Bullshit!" I screamed at him through the receiver, clearly aware of the hairs rising up on the back of my neck.

"Excuse me?" He growled; his voice deep and low in a way that should have left my knees quavering but instead only made my blood run cold.

"You heard me!" I tried to hide the squeak in my voice. "It's bullshit. You know what? I don't even care! I hope your car breaks down!"

"I assure you, it is a valid assignment. Believe me, I am not pleased about it either, but as you know…" He paused to suck on his teeth, making a hissing noise with the air that pushed between them. "There are certain protocols."

"Fine. Fine." If my blood could have boiled, it would have.

The thing was, I hadn't seen Eric in weeks. Too many weeks had piled up on top of each other and still, he'd stayed away. I was having one of those all too familiar moments, imagining Bill tuning me out like yesterday's leftover chicken. Now it was happening with Eric too, and frankly, I'd had it up to my eyeballs with vampire crap. If he didn't want to see me, didn't want to be with me, he could just come right out and say it! I could take the rejection if he was decent about it! Sure, he'd be a lying liar with a cottonmouth snake's forked tongue, but at least he'd be a nice person about it. I found myself thinking, _Well, that's vampirism for ya'! _They get sick of you and they just move on. Next please! I think I'll take a brunette. I'm tired of blondes.

I cringed and hung up the phone.

It rung back almost immediately, but I just stared at it. The answering machine came on, one of those old ones with the cassette tapes. I watched the tape go and heard dead air over the line. Eric cleared his throat, though the gesture was unnecessary. He always sounded like sex on a hot summer night. I would have turned to jelly if I wasn't so damn angry.

"Sookie," he sighed. "I will be back. Soon. I…"

The machine clicked off. The line went dead. Whatever he was about to say, an apology or a declaration of love or whatever-I didn't get it. Part of me wanted to call him back, ask him what he was going to say. But the part of me that wanted to ring his pasty pale neck won over. I unplugged the phone from the wall and went to sulk in my bedroom.

Amelia paced upstairs. I could hear her footsteps, shuffling echoes, on the ceiling. She had trapped herself in her room for hours, turning left and then right, doing god only knows what. I thought about yelling at her, or poking the ceiling with a broom. I didn't want to be one of those roommates, one of those people that whined and complained about normal activities. Pacing was pretty normal for Amelia. I shut my eyes and tried counting to ten.

I got to five.

"Amelia!" I yelled at the ceiling. The movement stopped. I heard a muffled voice, but I couldn't make out the words.

"What?" I yelled at the ceiling, trying to carry on a conversation with the stucco spirals.

"Spell!" I heard, or at least, that was what I interpreted out of the mess of words that trickled through the floorboards. Something about a spell that had her pacing. Maybe it was a requirement of the spell or maybe she was confused by it? I had no idea.

"What?!" I yelled again, as if that would improve matters. It didn't. The same string of words came through the floor like hard butter pushed through cheesecloth.

I got off the bed to notice the light blinking on my cellular phone. I had a text message, and there was only one person I knew that sent text messages. I stared at the phone for a minute, then picked it up and stuffed it in my pocket. I passed the stairway on the way to the front door. Amelia could have the house and the spell to herself. I needed to get out of the house.

I grabbed a jacket off the hook by the door and swept outside, slamming the screen behind me. It was just past dusk, and the night was alive with the sounds of crickets and frogs, cicadas and the occasional owl. My sandals crunched across the gravel driveway, softened under the smooth damp grass. Across the cemetery, I could see Bill's living room light on. Over the din of September twilight, I could hear the sultry melody of an old piano tune.

Bill Compton, another liar. If I'd eaten anything for supper, I might have felt sick. Instead, I stomped past the turn-off to his house and crept into the woods past the graveyard.

My mind was a rush of lies and vampires, two entities that seemed to go hand in hand. It was easy to separate the human liars from the honest folk. Their eyes twitched and they couldn't look you in the eye. Jason would squeeze his fingers when he wasn't telling the truth. Amelia would stare at the floor like a child. But vampires? Vampires could look you right in the iris and lie to your face. And since I couldn't read their minds, I had no idea they were lying until it was far too late. I was in too deep and I was already a victim. I didn't want to read Eric's mind. I just wanted to know what he was thinking.

The woods seem to quiet as I crept deeper into the old gnarled oaks, their limbs spreading out like the arms of some ancient beast. Cicadas folded their wings and the chirping of tree frogs faded. I could hear only the crunching sound of my feet on a leafy carpet. An owl hooted gently to my left and I turned to watch wings stab the air in flight. Her tail feathers spread like a fan, and I was mesmerized by her almost silent beauty.

I was so mesmerized in fact that I didn't notice the snake slithering out from beneath an old limb. I yanked my leg back with a panicked scream. Two drops of blood dribbled down my ankle, and pain shot up through my veins like lightning bolts. It sat there under the last pink wisps of the setting sun and stared at me, as though waiting for its venom to take effect. It was a red snake with green markings, a vibrant breed that would have been beautiful if it hadn't just bitten me.

"Eric!" I screamed, more out of shock than any sort of real hope. Eric was on his way to Dallas, catching a flight to Vegas. He certainly couldn't get to me, not in time to pull me away from the clutches of a very large predatory animal. I couldn't feel my toes, and I started to freak out.

Okay, like you wouldn't freak out too!

"Bill!" I wailed, clearly panicking. He could still hear me, right? He'd fed from me. Did that connection ever really go away? "Bill! Bill!!"


	2. Copperheads

**The Serpent**

_Chapter 2: Copperheads_

Panicking isn't really in my repertoire. I tried to remember the last time I'd been through a rough patch. There was that time with the fae war, or the time I was attacked by a crazy maenad, or the time I'd almost been raped in a basement by a church elder. Breathe Sook, you've been through worse things than a snake bite. But I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. Where the hell was Bill? How much time had passed? I thought about taking off my shoe and throwing it at the snake, still sitting in the grass, staring at me.

Its pupils were slits, like spooky cat eyes, dark lines in an ocean of bright gold iris. Its tongue slithered lazily out of its scaly mouth, the fork waggling in the still air for a moment. A glimmer of moonlight dropping in from between the aging cypress trees reflected on the snake's back, giving his blood red scales an eerie shine.

"Bill!" I screamed again, my voice going so high and ragged that it broke. The rhythm of my heart seemed louder than my loudest voice. The world seemed to be speeding up, and my blood went right along with it, faster and faster like a loose train car on a downhill track.

In my pocket, my cellular phone rang. I couldn't feel my fingertips, but I fumbled with the device anyway and brought it clumsily to my ear. When I opened my mouth to speak, my tongue felt dry and chalky. Not good Sookie, this is definitely not good.

"Help me," I croaked. Screw the pleasantries, I thought. This was so not the time.

"Sook?" It was Amelia, a clearly confused Amelia.

"Amelia!" I squeaked like a rodent. "I'm in the woods. Snake… a snake bit me!"

"Oh shit! Was it a copperhead?" She sounded weirdly excited. If I hadn't been in so much pain, I might have been annoyed as hell.

"Definitely not a copperhead," I hissed. On the ground, the world's most patient snake was still sitting there, staring me down in an easy going sort of way.

"Well shoot, Sook, don't be a baby about it. Just come on back to the house and I'll get you a band-aid. It's only a snake."

"I can't. Move. Amelia." I spoke slowly so she'd get it through her skull that I wasn't just being a girly girl about the situation.

"Oh fine. I'm coming." She muttered under her breath, something about being a pansy, something else about vampires. She hung up the phone.

That was when it hit me, the real onslaught, the whole enchilada, the big…something. My legs crashed out from under me, and my knees hit the cool ground. If my head hadn't hurt so badly, I might have noticed how horribly painful the fall had been. As it was though, I was distracted by the migraine-like headache that pounded on my brain. Tears fell down my cheeks that hadn't been there before. The grass beside me moved and the snake, for whatever reason, turned around and slithered away, as randomly as he had approached. I curled both arms over my head and wept, absolutely bogged down with headache pain. Wishing for a big box of prescription medication and several vials of primo quality vampire blood provided by a certain Viking vampire, I didn't notice that my rescuers approached me at the same time and leaned over to ask if I was okay.

"Sookie?" Bill prodded me, touching my shoulder tenderly. Amelia stood on my other side and crouched down to look at the bite on my ankle.

"She said a snake bit her, but it wasn't a copperhead. I'm sure she'll be fine." Amelia's voice was so nonchalant. How many times had snakes bitten her, exactly?

"She does not look well. I will return her to the house." Bill was gruff and anxious. Heck, that was his standard reaction to all of my various problems over the last couple years. He crouched down and pulled me into his arms. I could see him through the blurry tears that still crept down the sides of my face.

"It hurts," I whimpered pathetically.

"Take my blood, Sookie," Bill offered, cradling me with one arm and holding his other arm out for me. I shook my head, which was a pretty bad idea. My brains jiggled around like fresh jello and I thought I would puke.

"Eric," I murmured loyally. His tasted better anyway, if that was possible.

"Eric isn't here, Sook--" Bill started, before another voice cut him off.

"Give her to me," Eric grunted.

I closed my eyes, mildly relieved by the sight of my Viking. Sure, the pain was still there and searing by skull, but at least Eric was there to hold me and reassure me and take care of me. I wondered if maybe Amelia had had a point about my pansy ass and my reliance on vampires. I could have shrugged, if I'd been capable. I could think about my dependency issues later. Right now, I was worried about my ability to use my brain post-snakebite.

Eric rolled up his sleeve, a shiny black sleeve with wrinkles in the cuff. Blood collected in two small pools, a bite on his wrist. I didn't hesitate, not for a second. Drinking blood is gross and I don't recommend it, but when you're worried about your head exploding, you do whatever you can to make it stop. I took only a few sips of his essence before the pain receded. The throbbing died down and the migraine finally stopped drumming on my temples.

"Thank you," I whispered, wiping my mouth with my wrist. I rubbed my wrist, a limb with restored feeling, on my pants.

"I will take you to the hospital, just in case." Eric swept me up into his arms and we walked out of the woods together, underneath the thick canopy of live oaks and cypress trees. "Bill, look for the snake."

"Perhaps I should go with you to the hospital," Bill started. Eric turned and raised an eyebrow, a subtle movement that gave Bill enough of a hint. The vampire turned and started into the woods, snake hunting.

"Well, I'm definitely coming to the hospital. Are you sure it wasn't a copperhead?" Amelia piped up, walking next to Eric.

"I'm sure. It wasn't a copperhead."

At the hospital in Clarice, though, the doctor didn't seem to believe me.

"It looks like a copperhead bite, Miss Stackhouse," he said thoughtfully after examining my wound. "I'm surprised it had no effect on you."

"I told you, it wasn't a copperhead!" I squeaked at him, my fingers forming fists. Here I was, sitting in a cold hospital room, in one of those weird paper gowns that's open in the back. Eric and Amelia were sitting in the waiting room, waiting. I was alone with this pompous amateur herpetologist, telling me all about copperheads! And it wasn't a copperhead!

"Miss Stackhouse, I do have a degree in medicine, and I am a snake enthusiast. This is clearly a copperhead bite. Note the appearance of the bites, the space present between them, the condition of your blood…"

"Look, buddy! I don't know a lot about snakes. Everything I know about 'em, I could fit on a post-it note. But I do know this! I've lived in Louisiana all my life, and I am telling you," I got to my feet. "This wasn't a damn copperhead!"

The doctor, still staring at me like I'd lost my mind, released me a half hour later. He injected anti-venom into me, put a band-aid and some disinfectant on my bite, and handed me my dirty clothes. There were bruises on my knees from falling over, but otherwise, I had a clean bill of health. I staggered out to the waiting room and looked up at Eric. He looked back down at me, and we had a brief staring contest.

"What did the doctor say?"

"That I was bitten by a copperhead, and he was glad they got to me in time." I spoke flatly.

"Told you," Amelia smirked.

"It wasn't…" I started seething, and then stopped.

_Good grief, stop vying for the freakin' attention, Stackhouse! Your boy is back and you're going to get a ton of sympathy fucking. Meanwhile, my boyfriend is dead and buried somewhere. And you even got to see a freakin' copperhead. You're so lucky! _

I sighed and looked up at the tall hunk of Viking that was Eric. Amelia was right, even though she'd never admit those thoughts out loud. We walked back to the parking lot, to Amelia's Malibu. Eric climbed into the back with me, and we started the long ride back to Bon Temps. Eric's mouth found my forehead, and he gently kissed the place where I'd been in so much pain only a few hours before. I tucked myself into him and closed my eyes.


	3. Pass the Aspirin

**The Serpent**

_Chapter 3: Pass the Aspirin_

I didn't ask him until we got back to the house, but the question plagued my mind throughout the long and quiet road trip to Bon Temps. Eric was supposed to be on his way to Dallas, to catch a flight to Vegas that would have left around the time we got out of the car at the Clarice hospital. Amelia stalked inside, clearly agitated with me and the entire reptilian ordeal. I sat down on the porch swing and pulled my sore knees up to my chest. Eric leaned against the creaky wooden railing, his arms crossed over his chest.

"You were going to Dallas," I frowned at him. He'd called me earlier to tell me just that. He had some ridiculous calling to go to Vegas, and he had to catch a flight in Dallas. I could clearly remember him telling me that.

"I was, yes." Eric spoke bluntly and briefly.

"And yet, here you are, standing on my porch," I pushed him.

"Yes."

"Come out with it, Eric. How did you get from the highway to Bon Temps in so short a time?" I narrowed my eyes. He'd never been so secretive before.

"I hadn't been on the highway very long when I felt you through our bond," Eric said, his voice strangely cold.

"But your flight…" I shook my head.

"It was delayed." Eric grunted. Whatever he was hiding, he didn't want to talk about it. But I did. I put my legs down and got to my feet. Eric closed the gap between us, his hands wrapping around my waist. His lips grazed my forehead.

"I knew I needed to be here with you, my lover." His fingers caressed my chin and he tilted my face up so he could look down into my eyes. "That's really all that matters."

"I haven't seen you in weeks," I murmured, letting the sadness in my heart spill out of my mouth.

"I've missed you," Eric agreed.

"Won't he be angry with you?" I whispered, not truly concerned with the answer. I only wanted to see his pale lips move, to see his eyes glow with the fire of disobedience.

"Does it really matter?" Eric grinned, showing me just a hint of fang.

"Not really," I giggled.

When you're having sex with an ancient and very skilled vampire, a few weeks without his affection is like a lifetime of drought. Add in a terrifying experience with a snake, and you have the makings of a blissful night buried in his arms. His mouth caressed and controlled mine, and his tongue dipped between my lips and curled inside my cheek.

He carried me from the porch to the bedroom and placed me gently upon the sheets. His pale white hands unbuttoned my shorts and pulled them off, tossed them on the floor in a lump. He tilted his head to look at the fading marks of the snake's bite on my ankle. His thumb caressed the small wound, but I could feel no pain now. Eric's hot blood pulsed through my veins, taking away any discomfort.

From my ankle, his fingers traveled up to my knees. My thighs quivered with the attention, and for just a moment, I let my thoughts fade into memories of our love-making. I was certain that my cheeks were bright with color, but Eric made no comment on it. His hands rose over my pelvis, thumbs dipped under my pink panties. I was giggling, but completely unaware of the sound. If this was the reward for snake bites, I'd be willing to take that bullet more often!

His fangs grazed the button of pleasure hidden between my thighs, and his tongue twisted and turned over my tender skin. I rolled backward into the pillows, my back arching, hands contorting. I couldn't control the intensity, couldn't weigh myself down with self-consciousness. Somewhere upstairs, Amelia was in mourning for Trey Dawson, but I wasn't thinking about her now. I was moaning in my own pleasure, rolling from side to side, digging my hands into Eric's long blond hair. I sighed in blissful release, and his eyes were looking down into mine, blue sparks of hot flame.

He removed his clothes and was inside me before I had the chance to take a breath.

I fell asleep in my lover's arms, and snakes took harbor in my dreams. The serpents, hundreds of them, were as red as Eric's ancient blood. They writhed from his empty veins and filled my straining mouth, choking me. I tossed and turned, trying to escape them, but my arms were held down, my body imprisoned. A ring of their scarlet bodies coursed around me, impenetrable and indestructible. Their mouths opened simultaneously to reveal long fangs, dripping with venom. Each mouth was a sea of black, a hole without end. A cacophony of competing voices and sounds rose up from their squirming, slithering sea- so loud that I couldn't determine a word in the din.

I woke up screaming, covering my ears. Sunlight broke into my room and stained the sheets with light. My head ached, and I felt sick to my stomach. I stumbled out of the bed and opened the bathroom door. I heaved last night's supper into the toilet bowl and watched it slosh around in the water before I flushed it down the drain. On the floor of the bathroom, I remembered that I had the morning shift at Merlotte's. A shower, I thought. A shower would make everything go away.

The water ran so hot that steam fogged up the mirrors. I slumped into the tub and stood under the shower head, feeling sick. I kept my eyes closed, even when I fumbled for the shampoo on the edge of the bathtub. My temples pulsed dully, just enough of a pain to make it noticeable. There was Tylenol in the medicine cabinet, stuff I hadn't opened in months. After all, when you're taking a steady stream of vampire blood into your system, you rarely need to take pain medication.

What was going on? I'd just had Eric's blood last night! How could I possibly have a headache now? I opened my eyes to look down at the vague reminder of the snake bite. It was gone, not even a scratch remaining. The blood had obviously helped there, and on my bruised knees, now completely healed. My head throbbed harder, and I closed my eyes again. Yep, Tylenol was definitely the answer.

"Sook!" I heard Amelia call from the hallway. I was throwing on my uniform, standing in the middle of the bedroom floor. _I can't believe you kept me up all night with whatever the hell you were doing with Eric! Don't you have any self-control?! _"I made breakfast. It's on the kitchen counter. I have to get to work." _Ungrateful bitch. I hope she does the damn dishes. _

I blinked at the door. Amelia had always been an amazing broadcaster. Her thoughts were some of the loudest I could ever hear. But I usually had to at least be able to see her to hear her! I held my head, which pounded with the irritation of her thoughts.

"Thanks, Amelia. Sorry about last night." I called back through the wall.

"Don't worry about it," I heard her lie. _Can't believe she was up screaming and carrying on all night! _

I took four Tylenol with my breakfast of oatmeal and coffee. I only got down two bites of the oatmeal before I started to feel sick. With the combined headache and illness, I felt like I'd just woken up from some high school drinking party. My stomach turned to remember it. Ugh. Those parties had always seemed like they would be fun, but in the morning, you remembered all the stupid things you'd done.

At ten, I drove over to Merlotte's to open up the bar. Sam was standing outside his trailer, drinking a cup of coffee.

"Morning, Sookie," Sam said merrily. _She looks like hell. What's she been up to all night? Probably fucking that damn vampire. What the hell does she see in that dead bloodsucker anyway? _

I blinked. Had I just read Sam's thoughts?


	4. Breaking In

**The Serpent**

_Chapter 4: Breaking In_

I was so startled by the invasion of Sam Merlotte's closely guarded Supe thoughts that I dropped my handbag in the gravel. I stared at for a full minute before I bent to pick it up. Sam was walking down the stairs of his trailer when I finally reached down for the purse straps.

"Sookie? Are you okay?" Sam asked, touching my arm. The floodgates opened with skin to skin contact, but it wasn't a thought I heard or a brainwave picture. It was a feeling, a sensation that stung me more deeply than any emotion I'd ever felt. His heart seemed pained and distraught, and his muscles were tense and hard. He wasn't sleeping, and hadn't been for a few days at least. Deep seated worry dragged him down, and I was physically heavy with it. I stumbled in the driveway, losing my footing on the gravel. The purse straps dropped from my hand.

"Just not…I'm not feeling so good, Sam," I murmured with effort. Opening my mouth seemed like a cruddy idea. I wanted to gush vomit, like that girl in the exorcism movies. I put a hand over my mouth.

"Jeez, Sook, maybe you should head back home. I'll call…uh…" Sam, still holding onto my arm, rifled through the available waitresses in his head. I heard each thought like the click in an old rolodex. Merlotte's Bar had been losing staff for years, and it often seemed like I was the only one available for any shift.

"It's okay, Sam," I murmured behind my hand, as if my fingers could hold back the energy welling up in my gut. "I'll be fine, I promise."

"You sure, Sook?" Sam frowned, feeling guilty where before he'd been so angry and hurt. He let go of my hand, but it took a few minutes for the waves of his emotions to die off.

"Yeah, sure," I nodded. Sam picked up my bag and handed it to me. I was careful to avoid touching him again.

We crunched across the rest of the parking lot together, and Sam held the door open for me. I tossed my handbag on the sofa in his office, and picked up my apron. What the hell had that been? Was I on telepathic overdrive? Never in the last twenty-some-odd years had I felt such an intense connection to someone. The only thing I could think to compare it to was the bond with Eric, and even then--nothing that intense! I leaned heavily against the bar top and stared up at the clock over the door. We'd be open in ten minutes for early lunch, followed by lunch rush, late lunch, dinner, and after-dinner beers. I sighed. My relief, some new girl that I hadn't met, was supposed to come in at six. Could I wait that long?

"Sook? Can you open up? I'm just lookin' through the books." Sam yelled to me from his office. It was coming up on 10:45. I didn't bother replying, but walked up to the door and unlocked it. I turned over the open sign in the window, and sat down on one of the bar stools to wait. Our first customers would start rolling in soon, looking for hamburger baskets and three dollar drafts. In the back, I heard Terry Bellefleur fire up the grill.

"Sookie? You feelin' alright?" Terry called to me through the order window. He brushed a few stray greasy hairs out of his face and watched me with somewhat vacant brown eyes.

"Yeah, Terry, just a little under the weather," I nodded, stepping back to the window for a chat.

"You look sorta pale," Terry commented mildly. For a man with severe emotional distress, he was good at keeping an eye on everybody else. I leaned an elbow on the stainless steel counter top and nodded.

"What'd Gran always say? This too shall pass?" I shrugged. Terry nodded, his fuzzy eyebrows bending over his sunburned face.

"Here they come," I nodded at the door.

Two guys from one of the mills walked in and settled down at a table. I sighed and picked up a couple menus from behind the bar. One had sandy-colored hair that fell down into his eyes and the other had shaggy brown hair and a thin mustache. They had on matching blue jeans and button-up uniform shirts. I set a menu down in front of each of them.

"What can I get you?" I asked, plastering on my nicest smile.

"I'll take a sweet tea from a sweet lady," one said. He grinned at me, showing off a row of yellow teeth. _Damn, why can't my wife look like her? Looks like she's not feelin' so hot. Bet I could change that for her, turn her whole damn day around. _

"Shuddup Jack. Don't go hittin' on the girl. What about Marla?" The other shook his head and frowned. He had nicotine stains under his fingernails and a ripe smell to him. "I'll take a Coke." _Bet you he's not even sleepin' with Marla no more. Eyeing this girl like she's some prize turkey. _

"Sure, sure, coming right up," I smiled grotesquely.

I wobbled back behind the bar on unsteady legs. What the hell was going on? Even standing far away from them, at least ten feet and behind the bar, I could hear the murmuring hum of their competing thoughts. The sandy blonde was clearly in "love" with me at first sight, and the mustached guy was certain that the blonde's wife would be better off with him. I couldn't turn it off, and it seemed to be getting louder. Four more men walked into the bar, banging the little bell above the door. Their thoughts crowded in around those of the mill guys. I stumbled back to their table on wobbling legs and set their drinks down.

"Hey, missie, that's my tea," the blonde scowled.

"You alright, sugar?" The other one stared at me. "Lookin' a bite pale,"

"I'm fine," I choked, taking forced steps toward the next table. I wanted to set down menus, but I'd forgotten them at the bar.

"You gonna take our order, darling?" The last table called out to me, but their voices seemed distant, lost in the fog of thoughts.

"Ooh, sorry, I forgot your menus. Back in a jiffy," I wheezed at the second table. The door rang again and another group walked in. It was Hoyt Fortenberry and his mother. I stuck out a hand and waved awkwardly at them. Hoyt frowned.

Thoughts crowded in and around me like crushing walls. They were physically heavy, the same way Sam's emotions had been. I stopped at the bar and clung to it like a buoy in a raging tropical storm. My knees shook and shivered. My skin crawled as though there were maggots and bugs and snakes crawling inside it. Somewhere underneath the din, I heard Terry calling for Sam. The room seemed to be getting darker.

"Sookie?" Someone touched my arm and I slumped toward the ground, losing all will to stand. It was Hoyt Fortenberry, and I only knew because I could see so much anger in him, anger at his prodding bitch of a mother.

"Sookie!"


	5. Overdrive

**The Serpent**

_Chapter 5: Overdrive_

"Sookie," he murmured beside my ear, his voice low and gravely. I opened my eyes, and almost closed them again. The room was dark, but a lamp shone on my face. Everything hurt.

"Eric," I whispered hoarsely. His arms closed around me, and he'd pulled me in tight. The great silence of his mind was overwhelming and full of sweet relief. I tried to bury myself in his embrace, to ward off the rest of the chaotic world.

"You do not look well, my lover," Eric frowned. He rubbed my arm affectionately. My skin was on fire, burning, itching. I scratched at my forearm for a second before he cupped his hand around mine and pulled it away.

"Stop, Sookie," he said. "Your skin is raw." He looked almost sick with the thought of it, that my skin was rubbed raw. I forced my eyes open and looked at my arm under the blaring light bulb. He was right. My forearm was lined with scratches, brutal red marks with flecks of blood. I stared in horror.

"It itches," I gulped, disgusted. Not even chicken pox or bad years with mosquitoes had been this bad.

"Try not to think of it," Eric sighed. "I do not understand. My blood is inside you. You should not be feeling this way."

Confusion and frustration set in on me, sinking into my blood and coursing through my veins. My skin itched even more, as if every organism buried beneath the gleaming red surface was vying for escape. I put out my hands and pushed Eric away, but managed only to reel backward. He was, after all, a very heavy vampire. But the distance between us didn't seem to sever the connection. I buried my head in my arms, but the feelings were everywhere, sinking deeper and deeper into me. My heart pounded sluggishly as though weighed down by him.

_What the hell is happening to you? _

"Sookie!" Eric's voice mixed with his thoughts, and the bond between us grew in strength and determination. I clawed at my hair, my itching skin, the pillows and bed clothes. My face was wet with tears, and underneath it all, I was screaming.

---

"Sookie," I mumbled near her cheek, trying to keep my voice low. Her eyes opened slowly, and she blinked as she adjusted to the light above her face. I pulled her closer, sheltering her. She was shaking slightly, and through our bonded blood, I could feel the intensity of her pain.

"Eric," she grunted. Her breathing was heavy and slow, but her heart raced.

"You do not look well, my lover," I frowned, clearly aware of the understatement. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her lips were chapped and pasty white. She'd been scratching at her skin for most of the day, and she'd managed to peel away flecks of skin, leaving spots of dried blood in places. She shuffled in my arms and made to scratch again, digging up blood and skin under her dirty fingernails.

"Stop, Sookie," I grunted, grabbing her hand. I buried her fingers in mine. She smelled sickly, so ill that not even the scent of her fresh blood could arouse me. "Your skin is raw."

"It itches," she moaned.

"Try not to think of it," I urged her. Hadn't I only yesterday fed her? She'd taken my blood to wash away the pain of that bite, the snake in the grass. Bill had never found the culprit. We had simply assumed it to be harmless, a natural creature. Clearly, we had been quite wrong. "I do not understand. My blood is inside you. You should not be feeling this way."

Without warning, Sookie pushed away from me, sliding backward across the mattress. She might have slumped right onto the floor if she hadn't grabbed onto the sheets in time. I moved toward her, but she bent awkwardly into a strange fetal position, her arms curling around her head and her knees curling up into her stomach. In this place, she whined and squirmed, writhing in agony though nothing touched her. Her pain was unbearable through our connection, and my gut wrenched and twisted in a way I had never felt. What the hell was happening to her?

"Sookie!" I yelled, trying to cut through whatever was damaging her, hurting her. I managed to get an arm around her, to pull her fighting body against mine, to stroke her hair. She fought back, thrashing her arms and legs, her terror palpable. "My lover, listen to me! Listen! Sookie!"

"Stop!" She screamed, as though straining over some louder noise. "Please…make it stop!"

"Make what stop?" I begged her. I tried to coax her down, to control her rage, to hold her steady.

"I can…I can…" she wept. Her forehead began to bead with cold sweat, and I could wait no longer. I tore open the vein in my wrist, spitting blood onto the sheets. Holding her head back with one hand, I shoved my blood into her open mouth.

She gulped it down in a sickening display, as far from erotic as I ever thought she could be.

It seemed to quiet her, to make the agony stop. She went limp in my hand, and her straining muscles ceased their shivering. I kissed her damp forehead, her soggy blond hair.

"What's hurting you, my lover?" I whispered, trying to keep my voice low. She needed rest, but I needed answers.

"Thoughts," she groaned. "I can't make them stop."


	6. Delirious

**The Serpent**

_Chapter 6: Delirious_

_I will never leave your side again, Sookie. Wake up. Come back to me. I'll tell you everything: the trip, the shaman in the woods, my doubts, my fears--I will hold nothing back from you. I only beg you: please, please wake up. _

Just before dawn, when the world slept and my Viking lay awake, I could pull his thoughts from the barrage of threatening recollections, nostalgia, hatred, love, violence, pain, and all the rest of Bon Temps' inner turmoil. It hurt too much to open my eyes, to stare at him, to wonder. Through our connection, our bond, I could sense his worry, his pain, but the thoughts--his thoughts--were unbearable. I'd always loved his silence, the wall that existed between us. Now it was in ruin, shattered. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't find the strength.

What had he been keeping from me? Who was the shaman? Was he thinking about the trip to Vegas, the one he never took? What doubts did he have and what fears? Eric had always been so honest, so upfront. He never withheld anything from me…that I knew of. My brain spiraled with doubts, making the already throbbing migraine even worse.

All I wanted was the truth. Now I was getting it in spades.

_Open your eyes, Sookie. Open your eyes. Look at me. Please, look at me. _

---

"I'll sit with her," Amelia frowned, poking her head inside the door frame. I raised my head, just enough to acknowledge her presence. Would the human's thoughts hurt her more? Was I giving her some solace by staying at her side? Open your eyes, Sookie. Look at me.

"She can hear your thoughts, Amelia. I think it will be best if you stay away from her, keep your distance." I frowned as I stood. How could I leave her side?

"What's causing it? I mean, usually she can control it, can't she?"

"I do not know. Use Sookie's phone to call my day man while I sleep. Have him call Dr. Ludwig."

"Yeah, sure," Amelia nodded, her face vacant of all but worry. "Is there anything I can do? A spell?"

"We will contact the doctor first," I sighed. Daylight was nearly upon us, and I had to make my way to the closet down the hall. "She will know how best to advise us."

---

"I'm sorry, miss, but Dr. Ludwig is out of town. You may leave a message, if you like." The receptionist's voice was gravely and old, like some ancient granny. She didn't seem to give two shits about Sookie or the danger she was in. I wanted to reach through the phone and ring her scrawny chicken neck.

"This is a life or death situation!" I tried to be emphatic, but that's hard through a telephone receiver. "Sookie could die!"

"We all die, Miss Broadway. It is the plague of the living."

"But she's in pain! Please! Look, she's Eric Northman's girlfriend. You know-the vampire? Sheriff of Area 5? You have to do something!"

"As I have already informed you, Miss. Dr. Ludwig is away. She will check her messages at the end of the week. I can write her a note about Miss Stackhouse's condition. That is really all I can do for you and your situation."

I slammed the phone down onto the hook and slumped into the ugly floral sofa in the midst of the living room. Through the wall, I could hear Sookie moaning in her sleep. During the course of the day, she'd developed a weird fever. Her skin was cold and clammy but she was beading with sweat. I recalled that part in _Gone with the Wind_ after Scarlet had a miscarriage. Sookie looked a lot like Vivian Leigh, tossing and turning, delirious. I'd tried giving her medicine, but she wouldn't choke it down. I tried food: chicken soup, oreo cookie ice cream, hot milk, but she refused it all. Whatever was inside her, I couldn't let it hurt her anymore.

I got off the sofa and stomped upstairs to the second floor. I flung open the top of my trunk, filled with spell books and herbs and other kooky things. I pushed my cell phone to my ear and punched the third speed dial button. The grouchy voice of Octavia Fant came over the speaker and smacked me harshly in the ear drum.

"It's my poker day, Amelia. What do you want?"

---

Thoughts and worries flew in through the windows, the doors, and the cracks in the ancient wallpaper. I buried my head under the pillows until I was gasping for air, but still, I could hear them. Worse yet, I could feel them. Casey Smith, the librarian I'd chatted with over new romance novels, was incredibly depressed. She'd just found out her daddy, a decrepit old man she hadn't spoken to in about ten years, had died at an old folks' home in Southern Georgia. Her heart ached with the pain of loss, and the feeling dragged on my heart and itched underneath my skin. Arlene bathed her children with hatred, seething and spitting fire. Don't you talk to those _funny _children at the school, or I'll pull you out of there so fast your head will spin around! Miss Sookie ain't comin' over to sit you no more, neither! Cody, I'll tan your hide if you say that name in this house again! Andy Bellefleur stared longingly at Halleigh, both tickled by her love and depressed, wondering how he could have ever picked up such a pretty young thing.

Was that me screaming? I couldn't even distinguish my voice from any other.

Make it stop! Oh God, please, make it stop!

---

"You don't know what bit her?" Octavia grunted over the phone. I could hear clinking on the other end, but I didn't ask about it.

"No, Ma'am. A snake, she said. That's all."

"And she's hearing thoughts now?"

"That's what Eric said. She's hearing thoughts and she can't control them. I can hear her screaming from the second floor!"

"We can't do anything until we figure out what attacked her. Do you have a pen?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

"You're going to need some ingredients, and you'll have to take a sample of her blood. If this thing is what I think it is, its venom will still be in her."

"You sure? She took some vamp blood. Healed her all up."

"Vampire blood? Are you certain?" Octavia's voice hushed low. She sounded…strained.

"Yes, Ma'am. I'm sure."

"We'll have to work quickly then. Damn vampires, thinking they're above it all, like magick potions. Fools, the lot of them."


	7. Bloodletting

**The Serpent**

_Chapter 7: Bloodletting_

I stood near the door to Sookie's old bedroom, waiting on tenterhooks until the sun finally passed beneath the horizon. Would my cellular phone stop working if I continued clutching it with one sweaty palm? I wasn't sure. Octavia had jumped in her car as soon as I'd gotten off the phone with her, giving me the express instructions to wait by Eric's resting cubby until dark and prepare him for Octavia's spell. The thought of it made me gulp with worry. Eric wasn't going to like it, not one bit. And I couldn't even imagine what would happen when Octavia told him that his blood had probably made the whole bite thing worse! He was only trying to help, help save Sook from some lousy snake venom. Sure, I hated their whole lovey dovey thing, flaunting it in my face like I hadn't just lost the first good man I'd had in a really long time, but damnit, he sure is good to her! Way better than that Bill Compton across the street.

The shades at the other end of the hallway darkened to a vibrant purplish pink din. I admired the color patterns that swept across the living room floor. Behind the door, I could already hear Eric rustling from his day long slumber. The bedroom door opened suddenly and swiftly, and I stumbled off to the left in my surprise.

"Eric," I coughed.

"Amelia," he grunted. "How is she?"

"Not better. Look, I…" I started. He cut me off.

"Did you reach Dr. Ludwig?"

"No, I…"

"No?! Give me the phone." He was growling now, his fangs dropping down against his tongue in scary vampire mode.

"Listen, Eric…"

"Why is the phone…ugh, covered in perspiration…" Eric made a disgusted face, a face that seemed to read _Oh Gods, humans are revolting_.

"Eric!" I squeaked. "My teacher, Octavia, is on her way. She should be here any minute now. I couldn't reach the doctor, but Octavia says she has an idea about Sookie's…uh…condition. She's coming to help. She said, uh…" I paused, floundering. Eric looked at me with eyes so vibrantly, startlingly blue that they compelled me to be both awed and terrified.

"What?"

"She said your blood may have made her condition worse." I spoke so rapidly that my tongue caught up in knots. He blinked at me, a slow movement that was more conscious than it should have been.

"Nonsense," Eric hissed. He pushed past me into Sookie's bedroom and slammed the door behind him. The picture frames on the hallway walls shook a little with the force. Beyond the house, I could hear Octavia's car crunching along the gravel driveway.

***

The crotchety old woman swept into the house like a tornado, her wild white hair flying around her forehead in cottony wisps. She shoved bowls and potpourri off the side table in the bedroom and reached into a large black bag she'd brought in. Candles were arranged on the dark wood, black ones and red ones surrounding a single white taper. A jar came out of the bag next, filled, to my surprise, with a writhing black snake. His smooth skin was speckled with white dots, and his belly was a creamy yellow. He looked at us with wide, unblinking golden eyes. Octavia placed yet more devices on the table: a long knife with a sharpened blade, an intricately carved clay bowl, and several strips of unbleached linen. Finally, she turned to us. Amelia shut the bedroom door.

Sookie writhed in pain, kicking at the sheets.

"If I am correct, we do not have much time. Amelia has, I assume, informed you that this spell's destructive actions are to be blamed exclusively upon you, Mr. Northman. Do not bother feeling guilty now. Make your apologies later, on your own time. Now, we must determine the culprit and find its origins." Her voice was raspy, thick with a French Cajun accent. She was difficult to interpret, but I have some experience with Southerners.

"What can I do?" Amelia squeaked behind me. She clutched her fingers anxiously around the doorknob. She stank heavily of nervous perspiration, and her heart drummed in my ears.

"Light the candles upon the altar, Amelia. Mr. Northman, I will need you to restrain her."

"Restrain her?" I narrowed my eyes at the witch.

"Did I stutter?"

"Just what do you intend for Sookie?"

"I intend to save her life, Mr. Northman, unless you happen to object."

***

I could hear the chaos of their voices filling up the empty space in the room. If I could have found my voice, I would have screamed at them to shut up. My world was cocked on an axis, spinning out of control. I couldn't think. I couldn't function. Everything was in disorder, and the entire world was speaking to me all at once. My brain pulsed with pain. Each second was agony.

I could not tell one voice, one thought, one mind from the next.

***

Please, please let Sookie be okay. Please.

I lit the candles, one by one, before stopping in front of the white one. It was the last and most sacred, the candle of purity and cleansing, the candle of the Goddess. I said a prayer before I lit it, and the flame reached higher than the others. It stretched up toward the sky and gave me hope.

"Hand me the jar, Amelia," Octavia demanded. She kneeled at Sookie's bedside while Eric held her down at the shoulders. He used only one hand to force her into the bed, but it was enough. After all, he was a vampire, much more powerful than the rest of us. Sookie seemed to fight him, but he didn't put more pressure on her. He kept her very still, every part of her but the face, which contorted in expressions of madness, suffering, and angst.

I picked up the jar, possessed by a speckled king snake, and handed it to her. I'd always been a lover of snakes. They'd been one of my guardian spirits for decades, ever since I'd been drawn to witchcraft. The speckled king snake was one of my particular favorites, as far as local snakes were concerned. Not only was it an extremely docile animal, but it favored eating other snakes like copperheads and cottonmouths. It had taken up the mission of protecting us from venomous pit vipers, and I had to give it a lot of credit.

Octavia loosened the lid of the jar and retrieved the snake from inside. It did not writhe or wriggle in her hands, seeking escape, but curled around her hand like a spotted bracelet. Octavia began to murmur, a tongue I did not know or understand. I assumed she spoke to the snake, calming and reassuring it, asking for its help. Whatever she said to it, it seemed to work. The snake curled up on Sookie's chest, just below her heaving breast, and snuggled into her hot flesh.

"It will not harm her," Octavia said aloud, addressing Eric more than me. I glanced up to see the look of fear in his violent eyes. He worried about her. I knew he was good in bed, but I never really believed Sookie when she said he cared for her.

"It's a king snake," I chimed in. "It's not venomous."

"What will it do?" Eric asked, watching cautiously. He seemed to be giving off cold, the same way a living man would give off heat. It filled the room and made me shiver.

"It will bring us wisdom. All snakes bring wisdom, Mr. Northman. They have been given a poor reputation in the West as liars and tricksters, but folks confuse the snake with the coyote. The snake is a truth-sayer, a philosopher, omnipotent and omniscient."

"In my country, the serpent bit at the roots of the world tree." Eric scowled.

"In your country, Niohoggr bore the souls of the dead, Mr. Northman. That does not detract from his wisdom."

They stopped talking then, and Octavia held out her hand to me. I took the remaining items from the altar, the knife and the bowl and the strips of linen. Each item she placed alongside the bed. The snake didn't move or stir, and Eric remained still as a statue.

Blood always makes me queasy.

***

"You said you would not harm her!" I narrowed my eyes, reaching out to prevent the witch from cutting into Sookie's arm. She had the dagger gripped in her withered old hand, and had raised it up to Sookie's clammy white skin.

"Mr. Northman, if you interrupt me again, I will cast you from this room and force you to wait outside. I intend to rescue Sookie from this blight upon her mind. To do so, I must fulfill certain protocols. There is a process to everything."

"What exactly do you intend to do?"

"I intend to spill her diseased blood."

She didn't wait another moment, but dipped the tip of the hot knife (burned under the flame of a candle) into Sookie's skin until blood dribbled down her skin. In all the time I'd known Sookie, I'd rarely seen her in the act of bleeding. I'd tasted her blood, caused mostly by wounds I inflicted upon her. Occasionally I had seen her already bleeding. But in this case, I saw her flesh break and the blood spill out of her. It took a moment for the wound to drip, and I heard each capillary break. She did not react to the pain, and I wondered why. Couldn't she feel it? Didn't it hurt her? Was she already in so much pain that this trivial act could not rival it? She continued to shake her head slightly despite the force of my hold. Her eyes squinted and her mouth snarled. Her cheeks were red and dry with old and new tears.

The blood dripped like liquid ambrosia, down the side of her forearm and into the clay bowl. It soaked into the strips of linen. Every particle in the room smelled like Sookie. And something else.

***

The snake's eyes darkened and then lightened, becoming opaque and bright blue. I stared in wonder at the sight of it. Octavia folded a final strip of cloth into Sookie's elbow and pushed her arm up to stifle the bleeding. She thrust the bowl into my hands.

"Quickly! Light it!"

I put the bowl on the table and inverted one of the candles into it. The linen took a few seconds to ignite, so doused in blood. It smoldered with thick black smoke, smoke that choked my lungs and burned my eyes. The room seemed colder and colder, but I did not dare turn to look at Eric Northman.

"Hand me the ashes! Amelia!"

***

The serpent turned white before my eyes, sloughing its tough spotted skin with remarkable speed. It flopped around on Sookie's chest for a moment and then slithered between her breasts, shedding the opaque covering. When it was removed, a process that took only a few seconds, it curled up once again upon my lover's restrained form. This time, it rested just beneath her chin.

Octavia took up the skin and held it up to the bouncing candle light. Then she smashed it into the bowl and mixed the contents, ashes and bristling snake skin. She turned back to me, to Sookie, her wrinkled face full of life. She was lost in the moment of magick, transformed by it. With the ashes and crinkling skin, she smudged Sookie's forehead, each wrist, and the ankle on which she'd been bitten.

I'd seen the display once before, and it all came rushing back to me like a speeding train.

***

_Ixil. _

Out of the painful chaos of my brain, I could draw one word, one single word. It was Eric, but the word meant nothing to me. I wanted to slip back down, let the collective mind of the world overtake me, but something held onto my brief lapse of agony and drew me up.

Up and up and up until I opened my eyes. Even the low light of candle flames burned my irises, and the room was blurry and clouded with smoke. Eric stared down at me, his silent face as creamy as moonstone. I wanted to touch him, to hold him, but I was weighed down. Everything was so heavy.

"Identify yourself. Speak to us, Serpent."

Was that Octavia? What the heck was she doing in my house?

"Speak to us."

I couldn't open my mouth. My tongue was dry and sore. Images rushed past my eyeballs like a poorly operated slide show. Blood trickled down an arm. A woman wearing an alligator belt lifted her arms to the sky. Trey Dawson kissed Amelia's cheek.

"I bring wisdom. I am Och-Kan."

It was my voice, but I didn't say the words.


	8. Turkey Creek

**The Serpent**

_Chapter 8: Turkey Creek_

I stared at the snake under Sookie's chin. It hadn't spoken, but at the same time, it had. Wait, what? I thought the thoughts but they didn't make sense to me. It was Sookie's sweet southern girl voice, but it fell from the forked purple tongue of the king snake. It didn't lift its head, but I knew it wasn't coming out of Sookie's closed lips. But it was her voice.

Magick continues to baffle and amaze me.

***

"Amelia, can you stay with her?" I asked abruptly, awoken from a daze. I had to leave. There was still so much night left and though the way was not far, I would need time to speak to her. I had to have an explanation, and a treatment, before I ripped out the two-natured's heart and fed it to her in pieces. Sookie, my lover, I will fix this.

"I…uh…" Amelia fluttered, obviously caught off guard, perhaps trapped in her own thoughts. She blinked at me several times. Octavia's old hand stretched out and pressed against my arm. I shot her a glare, fangs drawn.

"Sookie will come with us. We will all go on this journey." She spoke slowly, but her accent was as thick as the mud under the bayou.

"She cannot travel." I narrowed my eyes. "Not like this."

"It is not up to you, vampire. You have already done enough."

She could have slapped me in the face with a silver crowbar.

***

"Okay, who has GPS on their phone because my battery is almost dead. I don't think it's going to get us past Shreveport, let alone all the way to freakin' Turkey Creek!"

"I know how to get there. Just drive."

I looked in the rearview mirror at Eric Northman, carefully holding Sookie in his arms. He was stroking her hair, but looking straight out of the windshield, past me and Octavia in the front seat. Octavia slammed the passenger door shut and I started the engine up. I threw my cell phone in the cup holder and pressed my foot into the gas. We jumped backward on the driveway, and I kicked up a whole mess of dust as we rolled out toward the street.

I'd never been to Turkey Creek, but I knew a little bit about it, mostly rumors. It was a teeny tiny little village in Evangeline Parish, about three hours south of Bon Temps. Pretty sure the population wasn't even in the thousands. It was one of those forgotten little places in between the big cities of Louisiana. Heavily forested. Lots of Cajuns. Not a lot else either.

On the highway, I put the pedal to the floor and took off. My car had a lot of juice in it, even though it wasn't worth much.

***

Sookie whimpered in a half-sleep, like a child suffering through a bad dream. I ran my fingers through her damp, tangled hair, but kept my eyes on the road. Had I really placed her in danger? All I had wanted were answers to my own questions.

All I'd wanted was peace of mind. Instead, I had taken peace from my lover. My bonded.

I will make it up to you, my lover. I do not know how, but I will make this right.

Gods, Sookie. Please forgive me.

***

"Does anyone want a sandwich?" I poked my head into the car while I waited for the tank to fill. We were stuck in Natchitoches, at a vacant old truck stop. My stomach gurgled uncomfortably. Eric shot me a look, but Octavia seemed to brighten. She'd been silent for most of the trip, thinking maybe, or sleeping with her eyes open. It was so hard to read her.

"I'll take a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup and a sweet tea," she smiled.

"Ugh. Sure." I felt a little ill. Sweet tea was pretty sweet all on its own. Chocolate on top of that sounded like it would knock all your teeth out at once.

I puttered over to the station and walked inside. The old lady behind the checkout counter had pinkish white hair and too much makeup painted on her face. When she smiled sweetly at me, I saw lipstick stuck to her shimmering silver front teeth. Oh Louisiana, you never fail to entertain me. I grabbed a diet coke, a sweet tea, a tuna sandwich, and a reeses package and placed them all on the counter top. Then I remembered Eric was in the car. He'd looked pretty angry when I asked him about midnight snack time, but maybe he'd appreciate the gesture? I grabbed a bottle of True Blood from the refrigerator and stuck it up as well.

"You want this nuked, sugar?" The lady smiled at me, not even batting an eyelash.

"Oh yeah, that'd be great."

"Sure thing," she beamed. She rang up the lot of it and put everything in a bag, except for the blood. That she handed to me with a little paper towel wrapped around the hot plastic.

"You have a good one now, ya hear?"

"Yes, Ma'am, I sure will."

***

Amelia trotted back to the car as if we were on a cross country road trip and not a life or death excursion into Cajun territory. I wanted to rip her head from her neck. Humans--I really cannot stand them as a race. Through the gap between the roof and the front seat, she held out a warm bottle of True Blood. I blinked at her.

"What is this?"

"Well, it's dinner. Or breakfast, I guess? Look, I don't know about you, but I never got to eat today. I'm starving. Even people in a crisis need to eat."

She got back in the car and pulled the door shut. I could distinctly hear the squishing sound of her flat teeth devouring strips of fish bathed in mayonnaise. I might have felt ill, but the thought of hot blood, even synthetic blood, was enough to keep nausea at bay. I brushed my fingers one last time along Sookie's forehead, and uncapped the bottle.

"Thank you for the tea, Amelia. I'm not usually up this late. I needed the caffeine."

"Sure thing!"

***

We drove for another hour before we got into the city limits (if you could call it a city, which you can't) of Turkey Creek. Eric directed me down a twisting dirt road, into the dark trees and along a lollygagging strip of putrid muddy water. I rolled up all the windows and put on the air conditioning, but nothing could get rid of _that_ smell. Tuna fish salad gurgled in my stomach and I thought I'd puke right there on the dashboard. Any second now. Throw up time. Just you wait.

"Stop here," Eric grunted from the back seat.

"Here?" I stared, incredulous. It smelled _really _bad here, like six raccoons had just met their end, all on the same damned spot.

"Yes. Here." He got out of the car, even though the engine was still running. He had Sookie draped over his forearms like sagging drapes. I shut off the engine.

"So what is it we're looking for here?" I asked after I'd gotten out of the car. I slurped the last of the diet coke out of the straw and abandoned the Styrofoam cup on the front seat.

"I believe you are looking for me."


	9. Ixil

**The Serpent**

_Chapter 9: Ixil_

She had a voice that was at once gentle and strong. I dropped my keys in the grass and didn't think to pick them up. Even though it was dark, and the road covered with the stretching limbs of live oaks, I could see her glorious figure, her strangely beautiful face, her intimidating eyes.

She looked like a Supe that had never fully shifted into one being or another. Her eyes were golden bulbs of light, split by slender vertical irises. The eyes themselves were almond-shaped, and tilted down so that she looked somewhere between cat-like and of Asian descent. Her nose was flat but rounded, black like the night and delicately furred. But her lips were as human as mine, full and pink and perfectly kissable.

She wore animal skins on her shoulders like a cape, and the lower half of her body was unmistakably animal. She had muscular thighs, bathed in fur, and strong calves. Her knees bent backward like a big cat's, and I wondered if perhaps she was one of them. The upper half of her body was human, perfect tear drop breasts and a slender waist with hourglass hips. Her white skin had been painted with glyphs that I recognized from old archaeology books. The guy I'd seen briefly in college was an archaeology major, obsessed with Central America.

Around her neck, she wore large turquoise beads and a heavy medallion. It rested in the space between her bare breasts.

I couldn't stop staring at her.

***

"Ixil," I nodded, dropping my eyes briefly to the ground. This thing, this shamaness, was ancient, older than me by thousands of years, and far wiser than I could ever claim to be. She was one of the few things I would ever bow to in my lifetime.

"Eric," she said. Her voice was a dark melody, a sound that stung me and hypnotized me. "Have you brought me a present? She's beautiful."

"She is mine," I growled, raising my eyes to the beast.

"That means nothing to me, vampire. Don't make a fool of yourself thinking I care about your possessions, your territory. Tell me why you have come to bother me…again."

I could feel the witches' eyes burning into my skin. Judging me.

"Your minion has bitten her, poisoned her. I fed her my blood to heal her wound, but since then, she's been plagued by the thoughts of others. She can't make them stop."

"I sent Och-Kan at your request, Eric. You asked for my help."

"I did not know it would harm her!"

"It would not have if you had not interfered!" Her growl sent my spine to shivering. "Fools, vampires. You are such fools. You think the magick realm revolves around you, that you are above it all. You are only a small piece of a much larger puzzle. You mean nothing in the great scheme of Life."

Sookie writhed in my arms, moaning in pain. She'd made no sound but whimpering for hours, and now something hit her. She curled her hands into fists so tight that I smelled blood oozing under her fingernails.

"Tell me how to help her!" I yowled at her, only half-aware of how pathetic I sounded. Was this what humans did to vampires? Was this what I wanted to become?

"You surprise me, Eric, with your desire to help this pathetic human girl. I'm sure you even surprise yourself. You answer more of your own questions than you realize by coming here, by begging me."

***

Ixil turned her head then, and I saw that the tips of her human-like ears were furred and decorated with gold hoop earrings and dangling stone beads. She hissed toward the forest, but the sound was more than that. She was speaking words, words I couldn't understand. I looked between the trees to try and see what she saw.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Octavia standing back, near the car door, enchanted.

***

Far beyond the whispered words of Ixil, the shamaness, I could hear the movement in the shadows. Leaves crinkled and twigs broke under the weight of the creature. Sookie struggled in my arms and her heart beat quickened. I waited, hushed by anxiety and fear. I'd never felt so controlled by my emotions, so plagued by them. Did I want this burden? Did I need Sookie this badly?

I had come to Ixil to find my way. I had come to her to ask for her wisdom and guidance. Would Sookie bring me to ruin? Would these _feelings _displace me from the things that I wanted? Was this natural? Was it right?

The serpent appeared in the shady moonlight and coiled at its' mistress's feet. It had brilliant red scales on the dorsal side, struck with green markings like slashes made with a serrated knife. The belly was creamy white and plain, unusual for a snake. I noticed that there were small plumes of feathers around the head, just behind the jaw. The eyes were yellow, and the pupil split like that of a viper. It stared at us with a serene gaze.

"This is Och-Kan, the Vision Serpent," Ixil smiled, gesturing toward the snake at her feet. "And to rid your lover of her ailment, you must partake of his venom."

***

"Wait, what?" I blinked, my mouth falling open. A bat could have flown in there and taken up roosting on my uvula.

"He will have the venom injected into him, and share in his lover's pain." She repeated the words, as if I were too stupid to hear them right the first time.

"But it's venom!" I squeaked.

"He is a vampire." She spoke without looking at me. Her steely eyes stared at Eric and didn't blink. She was explaining to both of us, but not really to me at all. "It will not kill him. If anything, it will make him stronger."

"You see, Eric came to me the other night, looking for answers. He has been confused by this woman for quite some time now, confused by his affection for her, even his love for her. He continues to deny the existence of his soul, presumably lost centuries ago. After all, he is a vampire. Only humans feel, so the storybooks claim. What Eric wants from Sookie, he believes, is physical only. He wants her body. He wants her blood. But he does not want her love. This is, of course, a falsehood. You know that. I know that. But Eric and Sookie do not know that.

"Your doubts and fears will always be with you, Eric. That is life, and death, and immortality. It cannot be escaped. It is simply how the mind works, how it achieves Truth. It questions and it worries and it doubts. Anything that is believed with full conviction is false. We know nothing for certain until we ascend from this world into the next, and then, we cannot come back and tell anyone.

"That is why these flickers in time exist, these moments when we may taste divinity and know that we might actually be right. You will sacrifice yourself, your physical well-being, your ability to heal and avoid pain. You will give up your security, the very thing you gave up when you bonded yourself to this human. Before that moment, you could deny any connection to her. But now? Now you are part of her, and more importantly, she is part of you. You are one.

"So give it all up, vampire. Give up that barrier between your heart and your head. Stop analyzing these feelings and listen to your soul. What do your Gods tell you? When was the last time you stopped to listen?"

I turned to look at Eric and my trembling roommate locked in his arms. Were those streaks of blood on his face?

***

I set her down carefully on the dewy grass and held out my hand to the serpent. It crawled toward me on the grass and slithered over my palm. There would be only one way to do this, to allow my body to accept the poison. The long snake coiled around and around my arm, working its way up to my shoulder.

Its fangs were hot on my neck.


	10. Venom

**The Serpent**

_Chapter 10: Venom_

Hotter than hot, like the first rays of sunlight on a new day or the sizzling of silver against raw vampire skin, that was what Och-Kan's fangs felt like. Part of me wanted to scream, to make my pain vocal, to seethe and whimper and cry like a human. I held back, gritting my teeth, hissing through them by expelling a gust of trapped air. I shut my eyes, bloodied with vampire tears. My eyelashes stuck to the tops of my pasty cheeks, but that didn't matter right now. All that mattered now was the pain. And somewhere deeper, all that mattered was Sookie.

The animal finally withdrew, but I hardly noticed his retreat. The wound closed almost automatically, like a mechanical door drawing shut. But the venom would not be rejected. It snaked through my pulsing veins, burned down the great halls of my arteries, stung the muscles and the unused organs. I gripped Sookie's hand so tightly that I feared breaking her fragile human body. If she could feel me, feel my weight and my frustration, she did not indicate it. She didn't cry and she didn't whimper. She was locked inside her own chaotic mind, and she did not notice me at all.

In a moment, I would know why.

It started with a spark, like the flame of a lit match. The sulfur smell of the match head was distinct on my nostrils. The flame sizzled through my every particle, following a trail of kerosene. I writhed on the grass like a trapped animal, gripping my lover's hand as though she might keep me grounded. The damp blades sliced my flesh as though knives lie beneath our contorted bodies. My mouth filled with saliva and foamed between my fangs, which revealed themselves immediately. I could hear thoughts, see motivations, feel emotions. They came at me from all sides, warriors on a long lost battlefield. I couldn't find a defensive weapon. There was nothing to hold them back.

My lover, is this your universe? Is this how you live and suffer?

I lifted my throat to the moonlit sky and howled in agony.

***

"What's happening to him?" I pleaded, running to the vampire's side. I bent down in the grass and touched his shoulders. He pulled away from me, smacking me roughly in the arm with an errant elbow. On my butt in the cold, wet grass, I watched him squirm and cry. The big blonde Viking was the strongest, most brutal vampire I'd ever met. He was blunt and cold and I never really knew what Sookie saw in him. But if this was the man she saw…well, that I could understand a little better.

His normally pale, iridescent skin was translucent. I could see every purple and blue vein, every rosy red artery. I could see the pink flesh of his muscles, and I watched them flex and press against the lacy thin dermis. His cheeks were stained red with bloody tears, and each fresh one layered upon the last. His face looked like an unfinished Jackson Pollock painting, meaningful streaks on white canvas.

"The Viking's blood reacts with Och-Kan's venom in a way that does not affect humans. These compounds of magic, knowledge and immortality, are not meant to be combined. With time, wisdom comes, but so too does it depart. Humans may see a glimmer of knowledge, but the way in which they come to know it is powerful and mystical. It is only a small revelation, something that becomes part of the soul and leads the human on a journey to seek Truth. But immortality, immortality does not blend well with knowledge. If immortal beings knew all, their lives would be wasted. There would be no joy in it. There would be no sport. The Gods, they love their sport."

Ixil chuckled, and the sound was light and merry despite the horrors before my eyes. I stared at her with wonder. If what she said was true, then even she did not know all the answers. She was still learning, still changing. I had no doubt in my mind that she was immortal. But she could still change and still grow. It was something I'd never expected.

"To see the truth, all the truth, before the soul is ready to know it, is to bring great pain to the self. When the soul is an immortal one, the pain is much worse. I do not know why. I would guess that the pain is to discourage the immortal from seeking out Truth directly instead of learning it through the journey of their continuing lives. But I can only guess."

"I can't bear to watch them like this," I whispered, mesmerized and stricken by Eric's continuing pain.

"It will end, my dear witch. It will end when they find what they seek."

"But you said they can't know!"

"They cannot know the Truth. But they can find an answer to their questions, even if that answer brings only more questions. Och-Kan brings wisdom and knowledge but not Truth."

"You are a witch, Amelia," Octavia said behind me. I blinked and turned around. She'd barely even been present, so silently standing in the shadows. "As you know, spells have specific purposes. When the spell is completed, their pain will end."

"Yes, it will." Ixil nodded thoughtfully.

"Well, we need to get them inside," I frowned, getting up off the ground. "They might not find their answer before sunrise."

***

_You're a goddess, a stunning and beautiful goddess! Please…please don't stop now! _

I squirmed in the darkness, listening to Amelia's thoughts as they wriggled into my brain. She was somewhere nearby, and her voice was loud, echoing, painful. I clasped Sookie against me and wept. I was consumed by emotions, coming at me from every corner of Louisiana and likely beyond. There were human thoughts and vampire thoughts, witches and werewolves and everything in between. I could not remember ever feeling so helpless before, so overcome and…terrified. Beyond the blank walls of the hovel Ixil called _home_, I could hear the heartbeats of trees, the blood in the veins of insects, the whispering words of the creek. There were too many things to hear and feel and see, so much that I'd been missing and wanted to miss again. Overwhelmed and frightened, I let out a scream.

And over the buzz, the blistering of my brain, I heard Sookie.

***

I didn't know he could feel scared. His feelings washed over me like nightmares, pushing everything else down, compacting it under his presence. He was practically inside me, all around me, taking over my mind and heart. Eric. I never knew he was capable of feeling scared. There were other thoughts too, other feelings, other sensations. He was caught up in his pain, and in the pain of others, and it brought him great and unbearable sadness. I wanted to hold him, to bury him in my arms. The little mother inside me wanted to shush him and brush his hair back from his damp face.

His thoughts echoed in me, bat voices in a rotting cave.

_Every moment I love you scares me. _

If I could feel my face, anything other than him, I would have blinked. Did he love me? How could he love me? Vampires didn't have emotions, didn't have feelings, and least of all Eric. For a thousand years he'd felt nothing, and now?

_What if I let myself love you and something happens? What if you leave me forever? What if you die?_

You can't love me. You can't. Vampires can't fall in love, I've seen it happen! I've been lied to and tricked, betrayed and injured. What if I let myself love you and you hurt me?

***

I watched the sun rise over the old creek, swollen with rain from northern waterways. It must have rained in Shreveport last night. Octavia slept on an old couch, the stuffing falling out of one end. I scrounged around in a dirty and barren kitchen for something to eat. Ixil appeared in the curtained bedroom doorway, her skin an attractive olive color, and her nose small and clearly human. She was beautiful, and I crossed the room to kiss her sweet mouth.

"You're awake, lover," she murmured near my ear, brushing away a lock of my hair.

"I can't sleep through their chaos another day," I frowned, pointing my chin toward the floor. Beneath us, in the bowels of Ixil's small abode, Eric and Sookie continued in their pain for a second morning, struggling with their acquired wisdom.

"I can help you sleep, if you like," Ixil winked, gliding a hand down my bare hip.

"I'm tempted, I really am," I blushed, letting my own hand find the perfect swell of her breast.

"You can do nothing to mend their agony, Amelia. Come and rest with me awhile longer."

"Don't tell me we're actually going to rest," I frowned.

"Hardly," she grinned.


End file.
